Charity Shop revival

Public prefer charity shops to eBay and Gumtree, study shows.

For items such as books, clothes, entertainment and furniture, people are more likely to turn to charity retail than online marketplaces such as eBay and Gumtree.

For purchases such as adult clothing, 62% of those surveyed preferred to use a charity shop rather than a website. Photograph: NCB / Alamy.

The public would rather shop for items such as books, clothing and furniture in charity shops than online marketplaces such as eBay or Gumtree, according to research by NfpSynergy.

The study, which asked 1,000 people whether they would prefer to buy a range of goods from a charity shop, an online marketplace or neither, showed that charity shops ranked higher for all 16 categories, except food and toiletries.

Caroline Jones plans to wear charity shop clothes every day in 2015 to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian.

Caroline Jones, a Cancer Research UK charity shop volunteer is encouraged by this research. Jones, who is behind the campaign Knickers Model’s Own, where she wears a charity shop outfit every day, said: “What’s so great about shopping in charity shops? For me it is the unknown. I love the anticipation, I never know what I might find. Maybe a little Vivienne Westwood number – that is on my wishlist.”

High-value items – such as jewellery and antiques – and children’s clothes ranked much closer on where they would be bought – with as little as 1% between charity shops and online marketplaces.

However, when it came to food and toiletries respondents preferred to shop in neither charity shops or online market places. For food 20% said they would consider buying from a charity shop, 25% said they would consider buying from an online marketplace and 61% respondents said they would shop elsewhere. For toiletries, 30% said they’d turn to a charity shop, 35% said online marketplace and 48% said they would go elsewhere.

NfpSynergy’s head of data analysis Cian Murphy said: “Charity shops are often accused by the media and retailers with vested interests of taking over the high street. What our research shows is that the British public love charity shops and see them as an important part of their community.”

“The fact that people would rather go to their local charity shop than go online for most things shows the importance of charity retail as a sector and presence on the high street. Charities should be proud of their shops, not apologetic.”

The study also found that 81% of respondents said they had visited a charity shop in the past year, which is an increase of 13% since 2004.

“People are much more aware of charity shops now,” says Jones. “The whole environment of charity shops is changing – charities have really upped their game in the last decade. The experience of shopping in a charity shop is much more inviting.”

The above article by Aimee Meade first published on theguardian.com Feb, 2015.

Charity Shop revival was last modified: March 5th, 2015 by thisisgoodwork